Dear Editor,
Re: “Interchange a danger, eyesore: Staff,” News, Oct. 12.
I would like to address the recent article on the Massey Interchange as someone who’s had extensive driving experience in B.C., Ontario, and in New York City.
I was recently back in Vancouver as a co-op student, and made a daily commute by vehicle to North Vancouver.
First of all, I agree with the need for some greenspace on the interchange. Given the benefits to Richmond residents, I would like to know what the specific cost of adding and maintaining the greenspace is.
Other than that, I think this interchange actually makes a significant improvement to the safety, and traffic of south-east Richmond for the following reasons.
1. Pedestrians will now be separated from traffic via tunnels and elevators, and will be one less thing for drivers to keep track of as they make turns.
Right now, pedestrians have to cross a highway merge entrance to access the bus stop along Steveston Highway on the bridge. This is a section of road where drivers are concerned about getting up to speed and merging with traffic.
2. Industrial trucks using a separate exit will reduce the load on No. 5 Road/Steveston intersection — which has had 1,100 accidents since 2005. For many years, it has made ICBC’s list of most dangerous intersections!
3. I’m not sure what Victor Wei (Richmond’s director of transporttion) means when he refers to dead space between lanes. Is he concerned that drivers are unable to keep track of lanes?
B.C.’s easy driving conditions and examination process, with little emphasis and relaxed attitude towards driving, needs improvement. In Ontario, examiners ask to see how much highway driving you’ve done with your N (called the G2), and will often refuse to evaluate you if not enough has been done.
A real merge onto a highway is a part of the N exit exam in Ontario, requiring drivers to reach at least 100 km/h to merge onto the highway. In Richmond, two of the three routes do not require an actual merge into traffic (Bridgeport Road exits onto a dedicated lane, Alderbridge onto Hwy. 91 east).
To add to this, I would also like to know if the bridge has spots for traffic enforcement vehicles to stop near the fast lane of the highway and at the end of the bridge deck to enforce the “keep right except to pass” law.
Since some highways (especially Hwy. 91) are often saturated, and only have two lanes, B.C. drivers may not be aware of the need to move over.
In fact, it would be even better if examiners themselves would enforce section 150 of the Motor Vehicle Act, requiring vehicles to keep to the right if they are not passing. Any ticket-worthy offence is already an instant fail on the exam and it would be awesome to see examiners help improve flow on our highways!
4. With different lanes for traffic moving towards No. 6 Road and traffic merging onto Hwy. 99 north, there will no longer be vehicles trying to squeeze onto the on-ramp when coming down the bridge.
5. Vehicles exiting off Hwy. 99 north will no longer have to come to a complete stop around a blind corner. This reduces the chance of a high-speed rear end collision.
6. With an actual bridge, I propose a variable speed minimum when moving up the bridge decks. The Nordel on-ramp to the Alex Fraser Bridge is perpetually jammed as drivers seem unable to find the bottom of their accelerator pedal to get up to speed. Hwy. 99 south through the Massey Tunnel rarely moves faster than 60 km/h when leaving the tunnel for similar reasons.
Thank you for allowing me to share some of my observations from my travels. I truly believe this upgrade interchange would be a huge boon to anyone living in south-east Richmond.
Aaron Yim
Waterloo, ON
